1,633 research outputs found
Ambiguity of gamma-ray tracking of "two-interaction" events
Tracking of gamma-ray interactions in germanium detectors can allow
reconstruction of the photon paths, and is useful for many applications.
Scrutiny of the kinematics and geometry of gamma rays which are Compton
scattered only once prior to full absorption reveals that there are cases where
even perfect spatial and energy resolution cannot resolve the true interaction
sequence and consequently gamma-ray tracks cannot be reconstructed. The photon
energy range where this ambiguity exists is from 255 keV to around 700 keV.
This is a region of importance for nuclear structure research where two-point
interactions are probable.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Spectral curves and the mass of hyperbolic monopoles
The moduli spaces of hyperbolic monopoles are naturally fibred by the
monopole mass, and this leads to a nontrivial mass dependence of the
holomorphic data (spectral curves, rational maps, holomorphic spheres)
associated to hyperbolic multi-monopoles. In this paper, we obtain an explicit
description of this dependence for general hyperbolic monopoles of magnetic
charge two. In addition, we show how to compute the monopole mass of higher
charge spectral curves with tetrahedral and octahedral symmetries. Spectral
curves of euclidean monopoles are recovered from our results via an
infinite-mass limit.Comment: 43 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure
Coronal mass ejections as expanding force-free structures
We mode Solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as expanding force-fee magnetic
structures and find the self-similar dynamics of configurations with spatially
constant \alpha, where {\bf J} =\alpha {\bf B}, in spherical and cylindrical
geometries, expanding spheromaks and expanding Lundquist fields
correspondingly. The field structures remain force-free, under the conventional
non-relativistic assumption that the dynamical effects of the inductive
electric fields can be neglected. While keeping the internal magnetic field
structure of the stationary solutions, expansion leads to complicated internal
velocities and rotation, induced by inductive electric field. The structures
depends only on overall radius R(t) and rate of expansion \dot{R}(t) measured
at a given moment, and thus are applicable to arbitrary expansion laws. In case
of cylindrical Lundquist fields, the flux conservation requires that both axial
and radial expansion proceed with equal rates. In accordance with observations,
the model predicts that the maximum magnetic field is reached before the
spacecraft reaches the geometric center of a CME.Comment: 19 pages, 9 Figures, accepted by Solar Physic
Connectivity in MEG resting-state networks increases after resective surgery for low-grade glioma and correlates with improved cognitive performance☆
Purpose Low-grade glioma (LGG) patients often have cognitive deficits. Several disease- and treatment related factors affect cognitive processing. Cognitive outcome of resective surgery is unpredictable, both for improvement and deterioration, especially for complex domains such as attention and executive functioning. MEG analysis of resting-state networks (RSNs) is a good candidate for presurgical prediction of cognitive outcome. In this study, we explore the relation between alterations in connectivity of RSNs and changes in cognitive processing after resective surgery, as a stepping stone to ultimately predict postsurgical cognitive outcome. Methods: Ten patients with LGG were included, who had no adjuvant therapy. MEG recording and neuropsychological assessment were obtained before and after resective surgery. MEG data were recorded during a no-task eyes-closed condition, and projected to the anatomical space of the AAL atlas. Alterations in functional connectivity, as characterized by the phase lag index (PLI), within the default mode network (DMN), executive control network (ECN), and left- and right-sided frontoparietal networks (FPN) were compared to cognitive changes. Results: Lower alpha band DMN connectivity was increased after surgery, and this increase was related to improved verbal memory functioning. Similarly, right FPN connectivity was increased after resection in the upper alpha band, which correlated with improved attention, working memory and executive functioning. Discussion Increased alpha band RSN functional connectivity in MEG recordings correlates with improved cognitive outcome after resective surgery. The mechanisms resulting in functional connectivity alterations after resection remain to be elucidated. Importantly, our findings indicate that connectivity of MEG RSNs may be used for presurgical prediction of cognitive outcome in future studies
Progressive transformation of a flux rope to an ICME
The solar wind conditions at one astronomical unit (AU) can be strongly
disturbed by the interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). A subset,
called magnetic clouds (MCs), is formed by twisted flux ropes that transport an
important amount of magnetic flux and helicity which is released in CMEs. At 1
AU from the Sun, the magnetic structure of MCs is generally modeled neglecting
their expansion during the spacecraft crossing. However, in some cases, MCs
present a significant expansion. We present here an analysis of the huge and
significantly expanding MC observed by the Wind spacecraft during 9 and 10
November, 2004. After determining an approximated orientation for the flux rope
using the minimum variance method, we precise the orientation of the cloud axis
relating its front and rear magnetic discontinuities using a direct method.
This method takes into account the conservation of the azimuthal magnetic flux
between the in- and out-bound branches, and is valid for a finite impact
parameter (i.e., not necessarily a small distance between the spacecraft
trajectory and the cloud axis). Moreover, using the direct method, we find that
the ICME is formed by a flux rope (MC) followed by an extended coherent
magnetic region. These observations are interpreted considering the existence
of a previous larger flux rope, which partially reconnected with its
environment in the front. These findings imply that the ejected flux rope is
progressively peeled by reconnection and transformed to the observed ICME (with
a remnant flux rope in the front part).Comment: Solar Physics (in press
Columnar defects and vortex fluctuations in layered superconductors
We investigate fluctuations of Josephson-coupled pancake vortices in layered
superconductors in the presence of columnar defects. We study the
thermodynamics of a single pancake stack pinned by columnar defects and obtain
the temperature dependence of localization length, pinning energy and critical
current. We study the creep regime and compute the crossover current between
line-like creep and pancake-like creep motion. We find that columnar defects
effectively increase interlayer Josephson coupling by suppressing thermal
fluctuations of pancakes. This leads to an upward shift in the decoupling line
most pronounced around the matching field.Comment: 5 pages, REVTeX, no figure
A MapReduce Framework for Analysing Portfolios of Catastrophic Risk with Secondary Uncertainty
AbstractThe design and implementation of an extensible framework for performing exploratory analysis of complex property portfolios of catastrophe insurance treaties on the Map-Reduce model is presented in this paper. The framework implements Aggregate Risk Analysis, a Monte Carlo simulation technique, which is at the heart of the analytical pipeline of the modern quantitative insurance/reinsurance pipeline. A key feature of the framework is the support for layering advanced types of analysis, such as portfolio or program level aggregate risk analysis with secondary uncertainty (i.e. computing Probable Maximum Loss (PML) based on a distribution rather than mean values). Such in-depth analysis is not supported by production-based risk management systems since they are constrained by hard response time requirements placed on them. On the other hand, this paper reports preliminary experimental results to demonstrate that in-depth aggregate risk analysis can be realized using a framework based on the MapReduce model
Chiral spinors and gauge fields in noncommutative curved space-time
The fundamental concepts of Riemannian geometry, such as differential forms,
vielbein, metric, connection, torsion and curvature, are generalized in the
context of non-commutative geometry. This allows us to construct the
Einstein-Hilbert-Cartan terms, in addition to the bosonic and fermionic ones in
the Lagrangian of an action functional on non-commutative spaces. As an
example, and also as a prelude to the Standard Model that includes
gravitational interactions, we present a model of chiral spinor fields on a
curved two-sheeted space-time with two distinct abelian gauge fields. In this
model, the full spectrum of the generalized metric consists of pairs of tensor,
vector and scalar fields. They are coupled to the chiral fermions and the gauge
fields leading to possible parity violation effects triggered by gravity.Comment: 50 pages LaTeX, minor corrections and references adde
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